Samsung Rugby III freezing and rebooting problem?

Hello everyone. I purchased a Samsung Rugby III brand new almost two weeks ago and noticed something odd with the phone today. I was in my address book in the process of editing a contact when the phone started beeping fast, as though I was pressing buttons, it froze, and then rebooted by itself. I have done a battery pull with the device on and both a resset and restore the phone to factory settings. This is the first time this phone has malfunctioned since I purchased it. The operating system on the phone is also up to date. What can I do if this phone malfunctions again?

Re: Samsung Rugby III freezing and rebooting problem?

I just wanted to add that this issue happened again. It occurs when I add a contact and then try to edit that person's information. The phone has not been damaged in any way. It sits in the case and the contacts I have on my SIM card now were already there on my old card when the lady at the AT&T store copied them from the old card to the new card. None of my other phones have ever done this before.

Re: Samsung Rugby III freezing and rebooting problem?

Well, you can call Warranty for another phone, if you want to go that route since you just got it, but you'll get a refurbished phone. Hopefully, someone will have some better advice before you do that...

Re: Samsung Rugby III freezing and rebooting problem?

I went to the same AT&T Wireless store last night and I got it replaced. However, while in the store, the replacement device did the same thing. When contacts were copied onto the SIM card, and that same action was performed, it did not freeze and reboot like that. I did a live chat with a Samsung employee last night and the person told me that it could either be the phone or the SIM card, which is brand new. So the person recommended that I try another AT&T SIM card to narrow it down between whether it is the phone or the SIM card.

Re: Samsung Rugby III freezing and rebooting problem?

Both the phone and SIM card have been replaced and I then made arrangements with Samsung to send this phone in for repairs. I think it is a software issue. Everything else on the phone works fine.

Hope you have anothger phone to use in the meantime. It seems a shame that you had a new phone, had to get a replacement and now have to send it in for repairs. Hope it works for you once you get it back, after all you've been through. Please post back and let us know how it's working for you. Good luck!

Re: Samsung Rugby III freezing and rebooting problem?

Yeah, I know. It is a shame. I am glad that I decided to send it in for repairs, though. It turns out that this model has an issue with the software. The software has been updated and they say the phone works just fine now. :-) I am looking forward to receiving it this coming week.

Re: Samsung Rugby III freezing and rebooting problem?

azurecrimsonrose wrote:

Yeah, I know. It is a shame. I am glad that I decided to send it in for repairs, though. It turns out that this model has an issue with the software. The software has been updated and they say the phone works just fine now. :-) I am looking forward to receiving it this coming week.

Re: Samsung Rugby III freezing and rebooting problem?

I got the phone back from the repair center this past Tuesday and the same thing is going on. There actually was a problem with the phone. It was having trouble downloading the most current version of the operating system. So that was updated and now when I go to check for an operating system update, I see the following message:

The server is currently unavailable. Your device will automatically check for an update within the next 48 hours.

Before I sent the phone in for repairs, I could check for an operating system update and it would read on the screen that the operating system was up to date.

Re: Samsung Rugby III freezing and rebooting problem?

This will take a while:

I went shopping at AT&T store, decided to get a Rugby III, but didn't want to pay the $270 price tag. I went home and ordered one for $100 (new) off Amazon. When it arrived, it had an error where it didn't recognize it's own IMEI number, and therefor couldn't sync with the AT&T Address Book. I exchanged it with the seller, got another one, it did the same thing. In talking with the seller, they said their supplier was "working on it". While I was waiting for them to figure it out, I ordered, again from Amazon, but a different vendor, another Rugby III. This one came, and had the error described above. For me, it has been most often happening when I listen to MP3's. I can start an MP3 (listening through my bluetooth earpiece), and within 5 minutes it will freeze and reboot. So, I called and exchanged the phone with vendor 2. Meanwhile, vendor 1 says they have the IMEI problem fixed, and ships me another phone. This new phone (#3) from vendor 1 has the same freeze and reboot problem that vendor 2's phones did. I received the exchange phone from vendor 2, and it also freeze's and reboots.

I finally decided I would have been money and frustration ahead if I had just bought the more expensive phone from AT&T. Today I went to the AT&T store, bought the Rugby III. Tonight, after setting it up and sync'ing all my contacts etc., I tried an MP3 and within 5 minutes, freeze and reboot. I've found that if I start the MP3's up again, it will reboot a second time, but on the 3rd time, it will just shut down and I'll have to pull the battery to get it to restart.

It seems there is a software error in the Rugby's, and it doesn't matter where it comes from. I have (apparently) successfully updated my software, and this HASN'T fixed the problem. Should I ship all these phones back? Anyone?